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Left for Dead

Earlierthis week, a bank sent a contractor to fix the roof of a house on which they had foreclosed. It was then and only then, that the previous owner of the house was discovered, mummified in the backseat of her car, still parked in the garage.

She has been dead for 6 years.

What sort of solitary and lonely life is that the only reason someone notices you are not alive anymore is because your roof developed a hole! Think of how many people you come across every single day. Think of all the opportunities for personal contact, where you can make an impression on someone, that you have every time you leave the house. Your co-workers, your neighbors, your family…

If you were to die today, how soon would anyone know?

Sure, if you live with people in your house, then that’s easy. It would likely be a few hours or no more than a day. But, outside of the people in your home, how long would it be? Obviously your co-workers would know that you were not at work, but how long would it take them to realize that you weren’t on a vacation. How often do people check in with you and how you’re doing?

And perhaps the better question is, how long would it be until someone cared enough about your absence to actively pursue the reason you weren’t there? Do you have people in your life that care enough about you to actively assure that you are OK? Or just passively presume that you are OK?

The difficulty lies in that the answer to that question for you is most likely tied to those for whom you are their answer. In other words, it’s most likely those to whom you are actively assuring their livelihood that would return the favor to you. So perhaps the question is not,

Who is caring for me?

But rather,

For whom am I caring?

This reminds of Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. Jesus is asked, “Who is my neighbor?” and answers by showing how to act neighborly to others.

So, today, instead of wishing and expecting more from others in your life… spend a moment being the fulfillment of their wish and expectation.